[Spoilers] Whosit is playing for second

[Whosit]

Little to note on this turn except that greenline did not attack me (I suspect their scouting Warrior will try to locate my capital) and that greenline's capital grew to size 2 and they completed their first tech (afaik I have no way of knowing which tech, although it must be one of the starting 3 and not, like, Astrology).

Warrior will take 3 turns to heal before it can attack the barb camp again. 2 turns until next scout completes and then 10 more turns until first Settler. I expect to expand south initially. I will need to spare a unit to scout to my north at some point.

[Whosit]

OK, I realized a miscalculation I made, because the description of Score on the wiki is not fully accurate.

Double-checking population growth, if everyone else is working a 2 food tile, they CAN'T be size 2 yet. It takes 12 turns with +2 food, and 8 turns with +3, which matches up with when Bombay grew. And I noticed I have 9 Empire score, which doesn't add up (5 for city + 2 for pop + 1 for palace = 8).

And since no one else can be size 2 yet, it means the 1 Empire point that greenline got a couple turns ago lines up with finishing that tech. And I think I got that extra point when I finished my first civic.

So I think that in addition to contributing to their own Civic and Technology scores, I think researching these gives a +1 to Empire score as well.

Very, very interesting no one else had a 3f tile they wanted to work. Which means I'm a full 4 turns ahead on production from size 2. This may mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, but I keep hearing that Civ is won on snowballing even the smallest advantages, so....

[Whosit]

OK, I now realize I was wrong about score. My empire score did not increase with the completion of Pottery. And I noticed that Korea's Culture has increased, consistent with a new pop. I wish I had started tracking score from the 1st turn, because now I can't remember who settled on turn 1 and who did not. I'm certain everyone is size 2 now, and that everyone likely has a +3f tile they were working to start. I'll still need to figure out why my empire score is 9 instead of the 8 that I'd expect.

See, this is why I was originally not going to try and track score, because I'm not good at it and give myself bad info. XD

Though there might be a factor of when score gets updated. This turn, the score breakdown reflected my research of my first tech, but the total score hadn't updated.




Western scout revealed that this is indeed the coast. Now this scout can head south and find Korea, so the newly trained scout can head north.


 

Located Salt! Glad to have a 3rd luxury resource nearby. Terrain looks pretty production poor so far, but will scout some more over next few turns. Probably not a high priority settle location, as long as no rivals are nearby to the north.




I did some napkin math. If I left Bombay working the forest hill and getting 8 production a turn, Settler finishes in 10 turns. I think if I grow and then work the high production tile, I'll still get the Settler out in 10. Maybe 11 if I was wrong. But since there are benefits to having more pop (a little more culture and science) I think it's worth it to grow faster, especially if it doesn't really slow the Settler down.

Warrior will fully heal next turn, and can attack the Barb camp again. Hopefully I can kill it before the Settler pops. I lost track of Korea's warrior.

[Whosit]

I also want to make a note of my short-term strategy, both for lurkers' sake, and so I can keep track of my thoughts and goals.

I'd really like to make a play against Korea because, possibly aside from Khmer, I think they might be the easiest conquest target in the game. But I need to make sure I don't completely sacrifice long-term growth for an attack that could fail. And this will probably not be a real rush, because I'm looking to get Commercial hubs up in every city ASAP.

But overall, I want to rapidly expand, which to me means 5-6 new cities. I will also need to make sure I get a Government Plaza with a Ancestral Hall as soon as they are available. Once Currency is researched, I'll go straight to mining > bronze working to discover iron. I think my plan will be to train several Warriors and save up gold and iron to upgrade them into Legions, though I may have to directly build a legion or two. I'd like to get a Encampment with a Barracks if possible, but since I am not rushing for Bronze Working, we'll see. Though if I can keep my military units to a minimum, if I can wait for a Barracks, shouldn't be too hard to rush out some Warriors with Agoge.

After Bronze Working, will of course need Iron Working to actually unlock the unit, but Apprenticeship will be a high priority as well. It gives +1 prod to mines, and also unlocks Industrial Zones.

I'm hoping that with a Commercial Hub and Market in every city, and plenty of foreign trade routes, I'll have enough money to afford the army I need. I imagine I need at least 4-5 Legions, ideally with an Archer or two to back them up, and a Battering Ram. I'd expect greenline to build a wall or two since they're next to Rome.

That's the plan. We'll see how well I can execute it.

[Whosit]

OK wow I am a dummy. I get the extra +1 from the Monument. smh

[Whosit]

Shockingly, something to update this turn as well:




Met La Venta (their unit must have found me, but I can't see it). Not only do I get a boost to Political Philosophy, but I was first to meet, so free envoy and +1 faith! I think I can safely swap from God King to Urban Planning when I complete Foreign Trade. Main reason I would want my pantheon ASAP is for the extra era score, but I think I have enough of a head start that I'll still get there first even with a swap.




Korea's warrior. Will they enter my territory?

[Whosit]

Scouting report from Turn 14:




La Venta has access to Marble, so I am tagging them as a conquest target. Even though I would like a religion at some point, it would only ever be a minor contribution. I don't need to fight for Suzerainship of this CS, and it would be better to deny it to Khmer.




Cats!


  

Realized I could attack this turn and earn enough XP for a promotion. That will heal the warrior next turn. Unless another player or city state's unit shows up next turn, there's no risk of this being poached. The gold injection will be appreciated, as I intend to purchase a Trader as soon as my second city is settled.

Speaking of, Foreign Trade completed and I'm going on for Early Empire. I will likely complete it before I can grow my cities large enough for the boost, but I do plan to focus on growth and see if it would make sense to delay and get the boost or not. Whatever gets me the civic the fastest.


 

I was actually debating whether or not to stay in God King because getting 1st Pantheon would be some welcome era score and keeping the extra Faith would secure it for sure. In the end, I did realize that since I don't need it, that it's better to get the extra production. I wasn't expecting Urban Planning to matter for the Settler, but....

I don't usually micromanage my cities, but I noticed that Bombay was 1 turn away from growth, and I checked to see that working the higher production tile instead of the high food tile would still grow me in 1 turn, but also cut 2 turns off the Settler. And then the extra +1 prod from UP actually cut it another turn. So:




I'll still get the Settler on turn 21 as I would have if I had kept working the plains hill forest, but now I get early growth which gives me more science and culture. Good move!

Lastly, I learned some more from score tracking. Well, I've begun adding in all the other info available to me for civs I have met (gold, science, culture, etc). It looks like Korea spent 75 gold on something. I was trying to figure out what it could be, since it's too little for any unit or building. I'm almost certain greenline bought a 3rd ring tile in their capital. I think that's the only thing that costs 75 at this point in the game.

Makes me curious what was so valuable in the 3rd ring to spend that much gold on this early. Did greenline tech AH first? Horses in 3rd ring? I guess we'll find out. I should start checking the trade screens. Though it's unlikely they have a worker this early.

[Whosit]

Nothing new on the map this turn, but some interesting things in score.

Korea researched a 2nd technology. Given how much science they are producing compared to tech costs, they must have researched another Tier 0 tech. So Korea is 2 of: Pottery, Animal Husbandry, or Mining. My guess is AH is one of them. I'm almost kind of surprised that this means that greenline didn't beeline Writing. With a unique district available so early, you'd think you'd want to go right for it just to place the district down, since every additional tech increases District costs.

Little else to report except that Krill and Mal Fett each had a new tech as of last turn (14). Archduke still has no techs. I'm wondering if Archduke is going straight for Astrology to unlock Holy Sites immediately? Seems a valid opener for Khmer, just not sure if he would tech it 100% or hold out for locating a Natural Wonder.

So far, Korea and my Rome are the score leaders, though I know that doesn't mean a ton at this stage. Though my lower score is partly because I still can't earn any era score.

Oh, and Bombay grew to size 3. I debated working the 3f/1p tile of the Honey, vs the 1f/1p/2g Maize. I went with more food, because if I want to make any attempt to get the boost for Early Empire, I need to focus on growth.

[Whosit]

Little to report, aside from a barb horseman might cause trouble for my scout heading south past Venice, but I saw that Korea's power increased and I did a crash course on what goes into Military Strength. After all this time I've actually never bothered to learn. XD

It's just total combat strength of all units, modified based on health (I did some testing, and a unit's health shows up as a % of health, not based on combat penalties). I also learned that a new unit is not calculated until the turn AFTER it is produced. So greenline actually built the unit last turn. MS went from 20 to 35, which makes me think that Korea produced a 2nd warrior and that the first one (near my lands) got in a fight, probably with a barb scout. Score of 35 instead of 40 suggests the Warrior is at 75% health.

I thiiiiink that this is the only explanation, but it's still a VERY slow time to build a warrior. Could Korea's capital have really bad production? Hopefully I will get a scout on them in the next dozen turns or so! Oh, Korea also finished their first civic, so I expect to see them take God King.

It does not look like anyone else has reached size 3 in their capitals yet, either.

Edit: If I'm right about Korea's build, it's interesting. I used to go Warrior first... I remember reading some opinion that they were better to build because Scouts aren't much faster and Warriors have more longevity as units. I will say that Scouts do lose some of their value on a map with a ton of hills because it slows them down to the same pace as a Warrior. But they are cheaper, and can get a little farther when you find flat terrain. The MP players I watch go for scouts early to try and get more huts and discoveries. Fingers crossed I will still find a hut or something. It will be hard to track what other players get from huts.

[Whosit]

Really regretting switching from Discipline to Survey. I thought clearing that encampment would ease up on the local barbarian problems (as is typical, a barb warrior spawned right before I cleared the camp, and that warrior and a scout did a lot of damage to my warrior... even though I was on -2 terrain, with the river blocking and my promotion, I thought I wouldn't take so much damage). Anyway, Scout fortified in place.... should be a total +9 to defense if Fortification bonus takes immediately. I don't think I'll lose the scout, but this is going to slow me down a lot.

Meanwhile...




La Venta looking even more attractive, with a second luxury that I don't have access to otherwise. Only real problem is that I don't think I could effectively capture it with Warriors. Since it is coastal, I can't put it under siege without a boat. I also don't want to commit Legions to it right away because if I have Legions I probably want to be attacking Korea. I'll have to figure out the logistics. La Venta would also be pretty defensible for me, with the mountain and river placements. 3 Warriors and a couple of Archers might be able to take it. I just wasn't planning a big military buildup for a while, but I don't want to risk it falling into enemy hands. Hopefully my scout there can find whoever else is closest to it. I'm also hoping that my scout can poach that Barb camp, but we'll see.

(La Venta could also give me a +4 campus, and a +3 holy site [assuming the CS doesn't plant a HS first].)

In score news....

The Khmer have grown their capital to size 3. (Since Archduke and Krill play after me, I'm not sure if the score values I see reflect MY current turn, or their last turn.... but I'm going to track it all on my turn just for ease.) Japan also just finished Code of Laws, a turn after Korea. They may have spent a turn moving Settler, I can't remember since I wasn't tracking this in the very early turns. I'm expecting to see Khmer and China finish CoL next turn. Japan is also the least lucky, with 0 era score so far.

3 turns until Settler is finished. I realize if I path around the river, I can settle in 3 turns instead of 4. Hopefully my wounded warrior can evade the barbs long enough to cover the Settler and maybe heal a little. I'm planning to leave AH 1 turn from completion until my worker is finished. If anyone else is tracking score, maybe that will confuse them lol. Did a lil more napkin math.... I think I could grow my 2nd city to size 3 in 7-8 turns, but with the new monument and citizen, I think I'd end up finishing Early Empire long before I could get the boost. Not worth delaying. Benefit/Curse of playing Rome, lol.

At least with a Worker out before Settler 3, I should easily get the boost for Craftsmanship. I doubt I will get the boost for State Workforce on time.

Overall, although T17 is VERY early, I feel like I'm in a fairly strong position compared to my peers at this point. I am still worried about my capital's long-term growth prospects, but I will probably figure something out.